Why oh Why do they let them rot??

[karguy]

Took these pics today. Sitting in the same wet spot for 5 years. Trying to save it now.

[billh1963]

Wow...just a shame

[R K T]

There is a long hood 911 sitting outside in the driveway of a house a couple blocks away. It's been sitting there for 25 years! I approached him over 20 years ago just to take a look at it and he started yelling at me to get off his property. Someone else tried asking about it and he told them he was going to restore it....and to get off his property.
The location is less than a couple miles from the ocean and the salty "marine layer" has taken its toll. Such a waste.

[Jonesy78]

Wow, Italian specs, too. Do save it!

[Hnichols]

And why do people leave their cars sitting over organic matter so the moisture rots the car from the bottom up. If they had only parked the car over pavement or at least some plastic sheeting it would probably have made alot of difference.

[Dave Colangelo]

You are saving it and thats what matters now.

The sad truth about many cars like this is they are not owned by pelicans (or the like). Owners like the community here at pelican are the minority. I often get a staunch reminder of this when running into guys on the street and ask them about their 997, only to get response "Im not sure what you are talking about, this is a 911 not a 997". Unfortunately there are many out there who buy cars like this for the status symbol, because their boss had it, or because they want to impress a lady. In the end of the day the car falls out of modern style and the reasons they bought it are no longer pertinent. The car then gets retired to a corner, or worse a wet field, and even worse the crusher. Maybe they ran out of money trying to fix it, maybe they just got bored of it and moved on there are endless reasons. We are all enthusiasts here and our ownership reflects that we cherish every minute behind the wheel of our Porsche not only because we are in a great machine but because at some point in our life we realized maybe there was more to getting from point A to point B than just getting from point A to point B.

Just remember that without wet fields and dusty barns, there would be no Porsches for us to save!



Regards
Dave

[reachme]

very well said Dave


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[HawgRyder]

For as many cars are out there rotting away...there are stories to tell.
My friend and I saw an ad one time for a 1954 Chevrolet...for $50...this was in 1971.
We figured we might as well look at it.
When we got there...the old lady told us it was in the barn (very dangerous looking structure)...but we had a look...and found a 1954 Chevrolet...Corvette!
The old lady didn't want to pay for another line in the ad...so she just put down the basic name.
My friend bought the car...with the provision...from the lady...to make the barn safe (pull it down).
It took most of the day...with a big old tractor and several crawls into the barn to pull it down...he still has the car.
The reason the car was there....nephew parked it...went away...never came back...not sure why.
So in the end...the lady wanted the barn down more than she wanted to sell the car....BTW...she was asking $50 !
We gave her a lot more than that...and a flat barn so the kids in the area would be safe.
He still has the car...very pretty...white with red interior....6 cylinder.....2 carbs on the side of the block.
Bob

[Daves911L]

"For as many cars are out there rotting away...there are stories to tell."

Very true, and yours is a good story. And there are many different reasons for doing what we do with our cars. Just because some of you have "gotten into" Porsches and chat away on this or other forums, don't assume some moral superiority and an obligation to "save" other people's cars. There is stuff sitting outdoors at my place that has occasionally been spotted by passerby. There is a lot better stuff in the barn. If you come on to my place uninvited to look, as has happened a number of times over the years, you are trespassing. I don't care how much you think you are special because you "know" Porsches, I will detain you until the sheriff arrives. They are my cars, not yours. I can do with them what I want.

Sorry, I know its a bit of a rant, but I think some of you guys have forgotten (or never knew) that until very recently these were just old cars. Now guys act like they are national treasures and there is something wrong with the guy who doesn't treat it that way.

[CCM911]

Daves911L, I fully agree. It really makes me laugh when people write about being so sad about seeing a rotting old car. Well, if it is not mine, who really cares?

I have enough to worry about in my life to be concerned with someone letting an old car rot. LOL.

Thanks for the reality check.

Drama Queens, you may now resume.

[82 SC]

The rotting car can also be a memory of a loved one that used to own it. My grandmother drove my granddads car after he passed away and then when she got a new car due to the old car not running well she let it sit and rot in the drive way to keep his memory. He would have not wanted that but some people can't let go of things as easily as others. I for one am a partial hoarder and keep things for memory's sake. Slowly getting better at getting rid of items i don't want or need. Hate waste too so if a friend needs the thing I give it to them so it at least gets a home.

[dw1]

Another factor is that until quite recently, a "normal" 911T of that vintage wasn't really worth all that much.

To many of us, the car is something special - something to be restored, well maintained and cherished - because of what it represents. But to many others, the cost and effort of restoring it was just not worth it.

There are also those who figure that if they sit on an old car long enough it will be worth a fortune. What they fail to consider is that condition, rarity, and desirability together determine market value. And then there are the junk collectors and the lazy.....

[chrisbruck]

Hey, the more that rot away the more my nice one goes up in value!!

[Dave Colangelo]

While Daves911L and Chris bring up some great points of which I whole hardily agree, I think there is another side to this as well. I will offer some thoughts (not a validation of any sort) on why some of us feel this way about rotting Porsches.

We are in no way trying to say the person should not let the car rot, or that they don't have a perfectly valid reason for doing so as 82SC brings up, people have all kinds of reasons for doing things that some may find strange. The members here that approach the individuals with a car in this case are not out to do so in a malicious way, we are not trying to scold them for doing so nor tell them what to do with the car if they so chose to keep it that way. We are simply asking why, asking what course of events led to the car sitting there, and in some cases if they would be willing to get rid of it (or maybe even looking to get rid of it). Often times you simply get a cool story about a cool car (and generally a cool guy who owns it). Maybe he had is first date in the car, maybe the car is the only reason his now wife of 25 years turned her head and gave him a second look, an event that surely changed his life.

As enthusiasts we value the rarity, uniqueness and specialty of these cars. One thing that many people often don't think about is the simple fact that they are not making any more vintage 911's. They are a finite good, a non-renewable resource and thus we as enthusiasts simply can not process why someone may let one rot in a yard even if they have a valid reason. I understand that some people simply don't want to be bothered and I can respect that, however I will remain confused, from a distance.


Regards
Dave

[reachme]

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this story but as a young teenager I had a paper route that got me up early every morning and into the cold/rain whatever to put newspapers on my customers steps. One house had a boy my age who had a very nice BMX bike at the time, a high end silver colored Mongoose Supergoose and this was a bike I could only dream of. My paper route bike was a heavy, decade old hand me down always in between gears as I tried to climb hills (I know boo hoo).

This nice BMX bike would be laying on the ground even in the poring rain, not even the kickstand was up and it would not move for weeks sometimes in the summer. I wanted to stand it up and put it under an overhang. I didn't hate the guy, or think he was dumb-but the bike cost hundreds and I made less than $4 on a good week with tips, and there was plenty of time to do the numbers in my head while pedaling. and I did. Freakin all the time!

He knew I went by it every morning delivering his familys paper, and I didn't know what sadism was at the time but that's what it felt like. He may have had many good reasons but you could not have convinced me of any at the time.

I never touched his bike and I won't tresspass and look in someone's barn (thats just dangerous) but the start of this thread was bewilderment and besides the dead husband story above I'm not the only one still hard pressed to understand it because even before these cars became so valuable, they have always been Porsches.

[billh1963]

Cars like these are still out there; however, there are fewer and fewer. While in college I drove a truck for the county during my summer job. I remember making a mental catalog of the cars I saw that I wanted to come back and buy. Unfortunately, this was in the early 1980's. By the time I had the money they were gone.

Some of the ones I found are listed below. All were in fields, under sheds, etc.
multiple XKE's
Chrysler Airflow
early '60's 4 door Lincoln convertible
early '60's Lotus Elite
356's, 914's and early 911's
VW's galore (including very early buses)
Maserati Indy and 3500GT
Lamborghini Islero
More British stuff than I could count (big Healy's, Triumphs, MG, etc.)

Those were the days!

[NYNick]

It's a waste of a good car, (any car), to let it rot away. It may not be MY waste, but it's a waste.

There's no harm in asking if someone would like to sell their car, since it appears to be wasting away. Of course, there's no excuse to trespassing either. I think the former can be accomplished politely without committing the latter.

Nick

[R K T]

Differences in opinions about this topic can clearly be defined by the fact some of us are very passionate about Porsches and there are some that feel a Porsche, even an old vintage one, is simply just a car. It is not a judgmental call on an owner, just why let something deteriorate into junk?

[Derek911]

Like Dave said and I have said this before... A large percentage of people who buy a brand new Porsche do so just because they have the money, not because they know or care about the car. That is even more so the case as the newer cars became more driver friendly. I saw a 964 recently with 17,000 original miles, but the door edges and seats look like they had 170,000 miles. The car was just driven around town and to the beach, but no care was given to how it was treated. Car enthusiasts are the only people who know or care about particular things. Maybe we are the crazy ones. Sometimes we are.

[regency]

Looks like that car is sportin Deep 6's...i think.

1973 911T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

Steve